So with this new fascination with making soap & other bath products, I need to rebuild my fragrance/essential oil collection. Or more to the point, create a fragrance collection, and find my essential oil collection somewhere in my parents basement. And add to it.
Last night, I picked up some citronella, sweet orange, and tea tree oil. (Thanks to Caralyn for the suggestion of Gaia Garden … they seem a little loopy, but their supplies are good and reasonably priced.) I have plans, you see. PLANS. Also, I like orange. My hands smell like I just squeezed a fresh glass of orange juice… in my HANDS. Rawr! It’s a good thing.
I made bath bombs last night. Well, bath pucks, really. Unfortunately, I didn’t add any coloring (don’t have any yet) so they’re plain white. And I never noticed it before, but my round puck-like soap mold is … kind of urinal cake shaped. In my defense, I don’t pee in a lot of urinals, so taking a while to recognize it isn’t that odd. Still, I may have a bit of a problem when I try to convince people to purchase a sweet orange smelling urinal cake to toss in their bath water. Um. Ok, I’m going to have to dress these up a little. (They fizz wonderfully, if that helps.)
Anyway, so you may have seen this on facebook or twitter already, but I’m going to put out a call here as well:
What are your favorite scents/fragrances in bath & body products? Feel free to list combinations as well as individual scents, and even if someone else has already mentioned one that you would otherwise list, list it — I’m adding weight to those mentioned more frequently.
Because I need a convenient place to store what I’ve got so far, and my gmail drafts isn’t the best place, I’m going to add the current list here:
Bergamot
Grapefruit 5
Sasamat
Vanilla 6
Lavender 7
Sandalwood 4
Pumpkin 2
Peppermint 4
Citrus 4
Lilac
Rose 4
Mango
Chocolate 4
Almond
Mint 2
Coffee
Patchouli 3
Cherry
Sage 3
Cranberry 3
Rosemary 5
Jasmine 4
Ylang ylang 3
Cinnamon 4
Eucalyptys
Lemon 2
Orange 2
Strawberry 2
Peach
Single Malt Whisky (grin)
green tea
gingerbread
lime
juniper
cedar 2
Lemonade
Clove 2
Apple
Combos:
Citrus/Sage
Mint/Vanilla
Vanilla/Berry
rose/sage/rosemary
jasmine/patchouli
cinnamon/vanilla
green tea/rose
gingerbread/peppermint
lime/grapefruit
Chocolate/Peppermint
Lavender/Rosemary
Cedar/Lemon
Chocolate/Cranberry
Chocolate/Orange
Cranberry/Grapefruit
Cherry/Chocolate
Cinnamon/Mint
Cranberry/Orange
Apple/Cinnamon
Apple/Cinnamon/Clove
I humbly offer to volunteer to road test any and all creations prior to them hitting the market ;)
Riann: I might take you up on that with some stuff… :) My ever-so-loving boyfriend is a terrible beta tester. ;)
Cute/well-designed cardboard “wrappers”/”belts” (can you picture what I’m picturing?) around soaps/bathbombs can disguise the most astonishing things…
I’m old-fashioned. Or something.
I like eucalyptys and lemon for bath products. Though for bubble bath/soaking in forever type things would try other scents, like orange, strawberry or single malt whisky…
I also offer to volunteer to test any of your yummy creations! I’m glad you were able to find what you needed!!
My favourite scents:
Lavender
Rosemary
Jasmine
Ylang ylang
Sandalwood
Patchouli
I think I like lavender, rosemary and jasmine the best though as those are the ones I use in my cleaning. I love when my house smells like jasmine after I wash the floors! Hmmm.
My mom made some neat soap a while back. If you have a cylindrical mold put a loofah down it before pouring the soap in. When you slice the soap you get cross sections of loofah in each slice. Very scrubby, and pretty to boot!
You mean likte this? :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arwenoid/3236053756/
(well, okay, but with a round mold, and cold process soap… as opposed to the M&P stuff I was using, heh.)
err, yeah
Mirthful: I’ve got a plan! I’ve been drying out orange slices (attempting to, anyway… ovens do not good dehydrators make) so that I can glue them to little fabric wrappers that will both disguise their urinal puckness and advertise their orangeness at the same time. Am brilliant!
I heard the trick for dehydrating using an oven is to have it on the lowest temp and prop the door open with a spoon. I’ve never tried it myself so I don’t know if that works but I heard it from a good source.
That’s what I’ve been trying, and it’s working pretty well I think. I have two nicely sliced oranges all dried out now. :) Even more convenient, my oven stays open a crack on its own, no spoon required. :D
lavender
rosemary
lavender/rosemary
hmm. I’m predictable.
I love cedar, but have a mild allergy to fresh cedar bark and wood, so suspect bathing in it might be dumb. Still, I think cedar/lemon might make a nice, not-too-girlie scent.
Am curious about pumpkin scent. PUMPKIN! Could you add nutmeg, cinnamon and other pumpkin-pie type spices to it?
I also think chocolate cranberry might be a nice Christmas combo, albeit not one I’d try myself (chocolate as a soap doesn’t work for me, it makes me want to eat my own skin).
Marmot: http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soaprecipes/ss/pumpkinsoap.htm
I’m tempted to make some. :) Need more money first…
Oh where to begin…mostly combos:
Chocolate/Mint (peppermint, not spearmint)
Cranberry/Grapefruit
Cherry/Chocolate
Lemonade (not precisely lemon, but can’t figure how one would make it lemonade without just being lemon for scenting purposes)
Chocolate/Orange
Cinnamon/Spearmint
Cranberry/Orange
Apple/Cinnamon
Apple/Cinnamon/Clove (and/or include other mulling spices? for a mulled cider sort of scent?)
Cinnamon
Cherry
Chocolate
Orange
Mint (any mint really)
Vanilla
Apple
Strawberry
Peach
Sage
Rose
That’s all I can think of for now…where do I order? ;)
My favorite is coconut, specifically the scent of coconut-flavored suntan lotion. I love the smell itself and also the association with sunny days at the beach, girls in bikinis…